9.9.10

"Each week, students read a short article that informs them about the world. Students highlight passages and words they don't understand, consider the author's purpose and intended audience, and work through any confusion. The class then discusses how the structure and craft of the article informs reader comprehension and how they can implement these elements into their own writing."

The Journal of Research on Libraries and Young Adults is a new online, open-access, peer-reviewed journal (http://www.yalsa.ala.org/jrlya) launching November 2010.

"The purpose of Journal of Research on Libraries and Young Adults is to enhance the development of theory, research, and practices to support young adult library services. ...The journal also includes literary and cultural analysis of classic and contemporary writing for young adults."

7.9.10

Last year, Kayak magazine asked students from across Canada to send in stories and illustrations that explored aspects of Canada's past. Out of the 350 entries, Kayak has compiled an "e-mag", of the top 25 entries.

One way to make a character profile assignment more fun is to "piggyback" on the interest in Social Networking sites. Some teachers have used Facebook or MySpace to develop real, live pages, but this may seem a little daunting.

Read-Write-Think has a great little template that will allow students to create a virtual Facebook page for a book character. There is no way to save the final project apart from printing, or "print as pdf", but with a little pre-thinking and planning, the final product can be done at a single sitting.

"In 2001, the Association of Librarians signed on to a new project to help define the needs and solutions for the libraries of the future. They thought that the word "library" was too old-fashioned and wanted something more snappy to compete with the “media lab” down the hall. They said that librarians of the future weren't going to “shush” their students, which inspired the designer of their new logo--Pentagram's Michael Bierut--to place an exclamation mark inside the word: The L!brary Initative was born."

About Me

Kwe' aq pjila'si, I am Vice Principal - Aboriginal Education for Surrey School district in BC, Canada. (Formerly a coordinator of Library and Information Services for SD38) I teach a Library Administration course and an Aboriginal Issues course for UBC and have a Masters in Educational Technology and Learning Design. I am also proud to claim my Mi'kmaq heritage. Wela'lioq for visiting.